Wishlist: Assassinations

[Dorjan]

Now this feature of the game is so bugged that I fear the game is unplayable for me, I hope I'm not the only one who feels this way either and can be remedied by the creators

Assassinations start with 5 bodyguards (assuming you have them) and the intended target in thier usual position. The assassin is on the other just like a normal battle.

Now this is what changes and ONLY changes from what I can see, the bodyguards will charge the enemy instead of hanging around the target. The assassin will attack and normally takes on the bodyguards.

Nothing is wrong at this point.

Then you have the target. He (1) will follow his normal army macros and cast battlefield spells etc... (2) run away if one or two of the bodyguards die.

What the hell?

1) Why would your mage with 6 levels in one magic NOT BLAST THE ENEMY INTO SUBMISSION but instead use a battlefield support spell then "wait" for several turns and die.

1.A) One solution I can think of is "banning" certain spells and orders from Assassinations. Most battlefield spells aren't good for this sort of thing, they should be "ignored" from the list of orders and they should follow the normal ai of "what is best", which normally would be alright. Also any "wait" commands should be ignored for this situation. This will allow mages to actually DO something in assasinations, instead of just sitting there waiting to die....

2) A top hero of the nation, Morale 19, Leading the troops over and over again, sees one die and decides to run leaving 4 men to take on the assasin... he leaves the battlefield and is DEAD. Totally spoiling the game.

2.A) Well getting rid of morale is wrong, but morale checks for lossing men should be removed for this. Instead, a man fails a morale check freezes for a turn (so lose a turn for a single failed morale check) or something like that. In otherwords Paralized with fear instead of running and dieing for no good reason.


I really hope this will be addressed even if my solutions aren't used because, honestly, it ruins the game.

[Fantomen]

I partly agree on this.

But it is not a bug, a bug is something that doesn´t work the way it was meant to. This is just a mechanic you personally do not like and wants to be changed. That´s ok to discuss but don´t scream BUG every time you disagree with how the game works.

Second there are ways around this. Practice a bit on countering assassinations and you´ll see that there are many ways.

Assassinations are meant to be painful, but it is actually quite hard to make them effective in MP. Possible, but hard. So no nerf is called for.

But yeah, I´d like the scripted orders to be cancelled during assassinations too. Sometimes they are actually, ususally when you script big battlefield spells using gems.

[Dorjan]

No offence but Earth attack spell is common in all MP games I play. So what am I meant to use to guard a mage?

I can't find anything.

As for it being a bug, the reason I call it a bug is becasue I cannot believe the creators would've wanted this...

[llamabeast]

Units will always retreat if 75% of the starting HPs of their side have been lost. I guess that's what happened? It's not completely ridiculous. As to why your mage waited rather than casting I don't know, that's unusual. Perhaps he was completely fatigued? Or perhaps you had no combat spells researched that he could cast?

[llamabeast]

Hmm, as a guardian against an earth attack you need something big. Maybe a Crusher? That should easily hold it to give your mage time to get to the end of his script and do something clever.

[Loren]

I think he does have a point about battlefield spells. One should not use offensive battlefield spells in an assassination.

[llamabeast]

They won't use anything that requires gems in an assassination. The AI is reasonably smart with gem use.

[Dorjan]

Originally Posted by llamabeast

Hmm, as a guardian against an earth attack you need something big. Maybe a Crusher? That should easily hold it to give your mage time to get to the end of his script and do something clever.

What if you are caelum? They are mages that travel 3, the speed 2 elites are useless to defend and I would have to slow my entire army down (removing one of caelums advantages) to even give a single mage per summon, a chance.

If the mage was a battlefield support mage then he would die anyway as he would just end up casting a battlefield spell and waiting 4 turns

[Dorjan]

Originally Posted by llamabeast

They won't use anything that requires gems in an assassination. The AI is reasonably smart with gem use.

They do. I've had it happen loads already.

[Endoperez]

If you can spare Water gems, Bottles of Living Water. 10 Water gems each, less if your Caelum has Icecrafters (forge bonus), even less if you have Dwarven Hammers. Summons a new Water Elemental at the beginning of battle, so no losses unless you lose and it doesn't even slow your army down.

There is, however, problem with the 75% hp-loss rule. The elemental has several forms, but only the first one is calculated for the starting hp. That means that you still have to have other bodyguards. Something with high hp, like Wyverns, might help a little.